30 SQUARE MILES PEARL OYSTERS DISCOVERED OFF CEYLON

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6885, 15 April 1929, Page 5

30 SQUARE MILES PEARL OYSTERS DISCOVERED OFF CEYLON

DIVERS LOCATE NEW HAUNT OF 100,000,000 BIVALVES COLOMBO, March 9. An extensive new pearling area has been opened up near Mariehehukkaddi, a well-known fishery camp in Ceylon. A survey of the area was recently made by Comniander Pawsey, the Marine Superintendent of the Government Fisheries department, wdio left Colombo on board his little craft, the s.s. Nautilus, with four divers to work in the ship’s boat. After reaching Marichehukkaddi diving operations were started, and continued daily. The .divers could not work accurately owdng to the sedimentation and the clouded sky. Moreover, the wind and rain made it frequently impossible for them to sec what they were getting at the bottom. When tho weather got very bad, and they could not go down, dredging was carried out over the area as on previous occasions. A small number of oysters were washed and searched, and the pearls brought back to Colombo. During a preliminary survey, it was estimated that'about 30 square miles of oyster beds were present on the Northern Paars. The inspection is regarded here as a successful one, and its results show that there are at least 100,000,000 oysters in the area in question. The Nautilus is at present being overhauled ,and will shortly be leaving again for the pearl banks. This next inspection will be on a large scale, and will report in full detail upon the exact prospects of the proposed fishery. A schooner, chartered by the Government of Ceylon, will accompany the Nautilus.

Ceylon is famous for its pearl banks, situated in the Gulf of Mannar, which are probably the most famous pearl fishing grounds in history. Pliny refers to (Ceylon) as “the most productive of pearls in all parts of the world.’’ Pearl oysters occur in five to nine fathoms of water. During a* fishery, native divers arc employed to collect oysters, which ape taken to the fishery camp at Mariehehukkaddi daily and sold to the highest bidder.